Sleeping Beauty is the next princess to get a live-action remake (if you can call it that) as part of the Disney revival, which has taken hold in the last few years. When I heard about this particular remake and the title, I only thought about “Hook” (1991). That is a good remake! Anyway, I want to mention first that all of these animated remakes are unnecessary. “Maleficent” especially. The 1959 Disney original “Sleeping Beauty” has every good movie ingredient in it. Drama, comedy, a strong story, and adventure! The color is beautiful, the music is mystical, and the fighting is down-right gritty. Maleficent is a big creeper in that film, which gave me nightmares! The fact that we didn’t know her past worked well for her image as the villain. Now that we have Maleficent’s watered down back story doesn’t make her as intimidating as before. Disney sure knows how to ruin childhood dreams. I had nightmares, but I liked those too.
One of the only things I liked about this film is Angelina Jolie’s accent. Voice acting is one of her talents and she does not disappoint. Halfway through the film I forgot that she even had an accent. That is pure talent of deception. Some actors try to pull off accents and fail miserably. Jake Gyllenhall comes to mind in “Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time” (2010). Boy was that a bad British accent! He would have been better off speaking without one. Sorry to go off on tangents, but you get the idea. “Maleficent” is a weak rendition of one of the most evil and scary villains in Disney history, but Jolie makes up for the movie with a good accent. See the movie if you don’t want to see real villains anymore. I like villains that scare me.
Sam Riley (L) and Angelina Jolie (R) in “Maleficent”
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